bottom of the
chasm in order that they might reach the spot from which the smoke
signal was ascending on the other side, they anticipated rough going,
but the actuality was much worse than anything which had been expected.

The soil extended only six or eight feet. Passing this they came to a
point where the solid glacier had been opened by the earthquake.

The break was uneven, there being little shelves and ledges upon which
the feet might rest, but the going was uncertain for all that.

The roaring of the fast-lifting torrent prevented conversation, and the
darkness made signalling impossible except when the searchlights were
held in position.

It was very cold at the bottom of the break, too, and the boys felt
their hands growing numb.

However, they proceeded with good speed until they came to a point where
the current had swept the tree trunks far apart and parallel with each
other. Here it became necessary for them to take the chance of a long
jump. When it came Sam's turn to make the leap, the log upon which he
struck rolled under his weight and he went down under the wreckage and
rush of water.

Frank and Tommy sprang to his assistance at once, reaching down in the
hope of getting hold of his hand, but the swift current carried the boy
along until he was beyond their reach.

They saw his head come to the surface and saw him strike out for the
floating logs on the north side of the chasm.

Then the bushy top of a tree drifted down upon him and he went under.

The boys stood for a moment as if paralyzed at what had taken place, and
then Tommy sprang into the mass of floating boughs and, clinging to one
which sustained his weight, called out to Frank to turn his searchlight
on the place where he stood.

Frank did as requested, but it showed only a half-frozen and dripping
boy clinging to the boughs of a tree which was already beginning to drop
down beneath his weight.

The lads had about abandoned all hope of rescue when Sam's head once
more appeared above the surface. He was within a short distance of Tommy
and the boy, dropping his searchlight, sprang toward him.

He succeeded in getting hold of the boy's arm.

Then Frank, appreciating the situation, dropped in and, while retaining
hold of a reasonably firm log on the west side of the chasm, caught the
rescuer by the hand. Doctor Pelton, who had been creeping nearer to the
point of danger, now seized Frank by the arm and slowly and with great
ef